Aloysius O'Brien at Thimble Cottage. Photo by Greg Locke © 2009

As often happens when you have over 25 years of slides and negatives in binders and boxes, some still not filed and cataloged, you stumble across gems you've lost or forgotten about. I've photographed Mr. O'Brien a number of times over the years but found an envelope this weekend while moving stuff with this neg in it. It was from a shoot returned from Macleans magazine and the camera proof says it appeared in the July 17, 2000 issue. It was tossed in a box for future filing ...that never happened ...until today.

Aloysius O'Brien was billed as "the last Irish Gaelic speaker" in St. John's. He and his brothers ran a traditional "old world" farm at the foot of Mount Scio in the north of the city. The house, Thimble Cottage, won a Southcott Award from the Newfoundland Historic Trust for the preservation of traditional architecture. He was the personification of the cultural and social history that connect Newfoundland and Ireland.

Mr. O'Brien died in August 2008 at age 93 and St. John's is lesser for it. For more on Aloysius O'Brien check out Joan Sullivan's wonder obituary from the Globe and Mail at the time.

For photojournalists and documentary photographers of a certain generation Robert Frank and his book, The Americans, published in 1958, was the epiphany and sent many of us out on the road with our cameras. I got my first copy as a gift from a friend in 1983. It is always close by and never fails to inspire.

A recent NPR article calls this book the one that changed photography. ...at least in America anyway. Franks style of photography, more common in Europe, and choice of subjects was " not done " in the USA at the time and challenged contemporary American society to look at its less pretty side. A different view of "The American dream." 

Such a photographic reflection had not been seen since the depression era photography by Dorthea Lange, Walker Evans and the other Farm Securities Administration photographers.

Another insightful look at Franks work is at the US National Gallery of Art Where you can find online image galleries and audio lectures.

The Americans was not Franks only work, just his most famous.

Frank lives in New York and Cape Breton and his work Mabou hangs in the Tate Modern n London. There is a very good entry on Robert Frank in Wikipedia